The invention relates to a heater, in particular a vehicle auxiliary heater, which operates with a liquid heat exchange medium that flows through a space between a heat exchanger and a jacket-like outer casing, and having a control device with inputs and outputs for the essential operational parts, such as a combustion air fan, ignition device, flame monitor, circulating device for the heat exchange medium, solenoid valve in the fuel feed device or the like.
Heaters or vehicle heaters, which operate with a gaseous heat exchange medium, such as air, are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,029, U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,030, and from German Pat. No. 24 53 202. In these heaters, a space projecting above the outer profile of a jacket-like outer casing of the heater is provided that can be closed by a cover. In this space, which is connected to the induction side of the combustion air fan, there is mounted, among other things, an ignition device, such as a spark plug or the like, and this space can receive a control unit or a control device diagrammatically outlined in these patents. These control units or control devices of standard construction have a tightly closed casing The inputs and outputs of the control unit or control device are made through the casing and are accessible to produce the necessary electric connections with the aid of plug-in contacts and electric lines, which are then connected to the respective operational parts to be controlled, such as a combustion air fan, ignition device, flame monitor, or the like. For this purpose, in most cases, individual lines mounted in insulating tubing are necessary, and during connection, mix-ups can occur among the individual lines to be connected. Furthermore, this manner of connection is also expensive and time consuming, so that assembly of electric devices, as a whole, is more complicated. Such electric connections, made with the aid of plug-in parts and lines, have a tendency to result in so-called loose contacts, in which a poor electric connection is present, so that disruptions in the control of the heater by the control device can occur.
An approach to solving the problems associated with formation of the necessary electrical connections, so that the assembly process will not be so time consuming and subject to incorrect terminal connections, is presented in copending, commonly assigned, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 276,667, filed Nov. 28, 1988. In this application, arrangements for providing an electrical connection device for components of heaters are disclosed whereby block-shaped plug parts are molded on the lines coming from the respective components, and the block-shaped plug parts are grouped into a unit upon which a cap having complementary plug parts is placed so as to hold the group of plug parts together as a unit upon the outer surface of the heater casing. While such devices as disclosed in this copending application are effective and beneficial, they provide no means for accommodating the mounting of circuit boards, sensors, a control unit, or the like.